A. In the temporal world, when we see a thing, we define it with words, imaginary labels. For example, when we see a flower, we define it with words such as flower, rose, red, beautiful and so on and mark its identity.
When we encounter a similar thing later, we, thinking of it as a red rose, are sure that we know it. Our belief of its being a red rose is unshakable although the rose has never said it is a flower, rose, red or beautiful. This is the way knowledge is established in knowing and seeing. This is referred to as being deluded by illusions, or being attached to illusions in Buddhism because all knowledge about the flower that we have is just imaginary labels created by us and not the essence of it. This is why it is said that when knowledge is established in knowing and seeing, it is the root of ignorance.
‘When knowing and seeing are not present in knowing and seeing’ means to see things without attaching any labels to them, that is, to see things as empty. When we see things as empty, we can see what we have not been able to see before because our eyes are covered by illusions, words. In short, we can see the true-Self that is the essence of everything, that is, we can enter nirvana.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
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